innerPlace http://www.innerplace.net Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:13:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 en Simplification part one - done http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/23/simplification-part-one-done/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/23/simplification-part-one-done/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:13:58 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/23/simplification-part-one-done/ Today I sold my second car. That means that I don’t have to spend another weekend repairing brakes, fixing rust or changing tires on that car. I have not yet decided what to do with all my free time.

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/23/simplification-part-one-done/feed/ When design goes bad http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/07/when-design-goes-bad/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/07/when-design-goes-bad/#comments Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:47:14 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/07/when-design-goes-bad/

Photo by Yellow Laguna

I’m quite pleased with my ten year old Renault station wagon (not the one on the picture, but similar), but in order to get it through the yearly inspection, I had to repair the front brakes. Turns out that the discs are bad and needs to be replaced. They are mounted with two screws, one was possible to remove, the second I had to drill away. Then the real issue is to get the discs loose. I think I have changed them before, or perhaps the previous owner, but the disc had not been loosened for at least 6 years. Enough time for the rust to form a tight seal between the disc and the holder. It took me 30 minutes each to remove the damn things and it gave me a massive headache.

The designer must know that iron rust, and that, hmm…maybe the disc will be stuck. Or perhaps they don’t drive their cars 10 years in France. In fact last year when we went to Disneyland in Paris I thought I would see lots of cars like ours (it a french car), a ‘98 Renault Laguna. In the small town were I live in Sweden their are at least 5 identical cars from 1998, but at the 7 day long trip to France I saw only one similar car. Strange.

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/07/when-design-goes-bad/feed/ Testing Facebook http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/06/testing-facebook/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/06/testing-facebook/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:07:17 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/06/testing-facebook/

I created an account at Facebook some days ago. I added some friends, actually all friends I could think of - including people from high shool that I had not seen in near 20 years. After the initial “OK so what have you been doing the last 20 years” there is not much to say. Then I got into the phase where I sat and wait for something to happen, for someone to write on my page. And obsessively log in each hour looking for new entries. Then I got tired and logged out. I guess that I’m to old…

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/10/06/testing-facebook/feed/ The road to Simplicity http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/30/the-road-to-simplicity/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/30/the-road-to-simplicity/#comments Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:31:01 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/30/the-road-to-simplicity/ I’ve started my journey to Simplicity a while ago, influenced by this great post among others. I’ve also felt that too much time goes to take care of and repair broken stuff. So far this year the DVD player (2 years old), my Canon camera (3 years old), my old computer (3,5 years old) and the washing machine (2,5 years old) has broken down and gone to the trash can. My youngest daughter’s bike got run over by a truck (she was not on it) and had to be replaced. The cars (8 and 9 years old) breaks down a couple of times each year. The point is that a great deal of the weekend goes to fixing and buying new things and I start to get real tired off it. It also cost a lot of money that could be used for better purpose, like traveling.

So, the first step is to sell my 2:nd car, the one that I use to drive to work. Instead I take the train. It takes 30 minutes extra, but as I don´t have to drive, I can sleep almost all the way, 2*30 = 60 minutes each day. And I don’t have to spend any time at the weekend doing repairs!

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/30/the-road-to-simplicity/feed/ Attitude is everything http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/29/attitude-is-everything/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/29/attitude-is-everything/#comments Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:07:42 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/29/attitude-is-everything/ Some years ago I had a manager, lets call him John. His level of energy was famous at the department. He did not walk in the corridor, he would almost run. Always first to arrive at the office, and usually going home last. After normal working hours he would sit down with some junior managers and go through working processes or configuration management in great details with no sign of slowing down his tempo. Even at worst possible situations with production stop at the factory and extreme pressure from higher management he could stay calm, positive and focused working at a solution.

On the other hand, I have another colleague, Steve who drag’s his feet in the corridor and never misses an opportunity to take a break or to complain at his work, management or just life in general. He is quite bright, an authority in his area of work. Still, it is unbearable to talk to him, since he is so negative.

Steve has been at the same position for 10 years or more, in the mean time John has gone from developer to group manager, section manager and now head project management.

So where is the difference between them? They have similar education and are both very intelligent. The only difference I can see is their attitude towards life. Having the right attitude is everything. Without it, education, advanced goal setting, or GTD techniques are worthless. You get nowhere without attitude.

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/29/attitude-is-everything/feed/ Creative moments http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/18/creative-moments/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/18/creative-moments/#comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:43:50 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/18/creative-moments/ I’ve noticed for some time that it is almost impossible to be creative between lunch and afternoon coffee break, so that part of the day is best used for routine meetings and going through the mail box.

For me creativity peaks at the morning before breakfast, often when walking the dogs or driving to work (I eat breakfast at work). Usually ideas come in bursts, then there might be a gap of several days until next occasion. To make sure I don’t forget anything I always keep my notebook close - but writing down ideas in a notebook is tricky when driving in the morning traffic. I’ve tried voice recording with my mobile phone but it did not work, the result was chaos. So I stick to my messy notes and then rewrite them as soon as possible - like at the next red light.

I used to drive fast to work to save some time, but that means I have to focus on driving. If I instead slow down, besides for reducing the risk for speed tickets, I can keep creative thinking and let the subconscious mind handle driving. I have not crashed yet.

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/18/creative-moments/feed/ Generating source code with Ruby templates http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/17/generating-source-code-with-ruby-templates/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/17/generating-source-code-with-ruby-templates/#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:10:12 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/17/generating-source-code-with-ruby-templates/ Imagine that you have to write function calls in C for 20 analog inputs and 20 driver outputs for your embedded control unit. Then there is another control unit with a similar - but not identical - configuration, but with a different pin setup. To write and support all function calls is a tedious work.

The configuration is setup in a XML sheet and edited using Eclipse. The first approach was to use one XSLT to transform the XML data to documentation and another to generate source code. However, using XSLT it was very difficult to write something that was a little more advanced than a simple list. After the initial transformation I want to generate interface layer functions with type control, and this was almost impossible in XSLT, especially if you consider that it shall be possible to maintain the code later.

Using Ruby templates - ERB - the problem is easily solved, even if it is sometimes necessary to mix ordinary source within the template as I on the other hand don’t want a zillion files either. I’m working on that…

Note: Python or Perl would have solved the issue just as easy as Ruby, in fact I tried Python first but then I decided that I liked Ruby better (actually I have used Python for 5 years and lately I felt that I want to try something different - just for fun).

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/17/generating-source-code-with-ruby-templates/feed/ Best links of the week http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/best-links-of-the-week/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/best-links-of-the-week/#comments Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:34:25 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/best-links-of-the-week/ My favourite links this week:

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/best-links-of-the-week/feed/ Top 5 reasons to write a blog http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/top-5-reasons-to-write-a-blog/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/top-5-reasons-to-write-a-blog/#comments Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:17:07 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/top-5-reasons-to-write-a-blog/ Here are my 5 top reasons why writing a blog is a good thing:

  1. It will force you to be more creative. The best way to practice writing is - to write. I guess it is possible to write a great book in the first try - but probably highly unlikely. Bonus: If you write in another language than your main language it will simultaneously make you practice your language skills.
  2. It forces you to be more open to your surroundings in order to find things to write about.
  3. It will motivate you to work with improving your skills. In order to write a great post about software technology you have to first write great software or to find a new angle on software development.
  4. It will be a backlog to your thinking.
  5. If you’re successfull you can earn some money using Google Adsense or similar. At least some people do.

]]> http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/12/top-5-reasons-to-write-a-blog/feed/ Audiobooks - to the rescue http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/11/audiobooks-to-the-rescue/ http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/11/audiobooks-to-the-rescue/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:31:59 +0000 admin http://www.innerplace.net/2007/09/11/audiobooks-to-the-rescue/ I used to constantly zap between the 7 available radio channels on my way to work. As soon as there was a comercial or a song I didn’t like I would switch channel. After a while I got irritated and turned of the radio.

Things changed when I bought my Ipod Mini, 2 years ago, and I discovered audio books. I listen to both fiction and non-fiction. Michael Connellys books about Harry Bosch are great. Among the non-fiction books, I like self-help books by Anthony Robbins and Brian Tracy. The content is basicly the same as other self help books (goal-setting etc.) but after listening to Anthony Robbins on the way to work a monday morning I get there in a mood like “yes this is going to be a great day - let’s get started”!

There are some good podcasts also, I would like to recommend 43 folders and Steve Pavlina.

What do you think, can you recommend good audio books or podcasts?

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